{"id":15684,"date":"2020-03-26T06:30:11","date_gmt":"2020-03-26T10:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=15684"},"modified":"2020-03-26T08:00:33","modified_gmt":"2020-03-26T12:00:33","slug":"mass-moca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2020\/03\/26\/mass-moca\/","title":{"rendered":"Mass MoCA To Lay Off 120 Due To Coronovirus Closure"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mass MoCA<\/a> in North Adams announced yesterday \u201cthat in response to business interruptions caused by COVID-19 and related government mandates, it will lay off 120 of its 165 employees, effective April 11. The workforce reduction affected every department, including management.\u201d (Read the full statement at the bottom of this article.)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe COVID-19 contagion strikes at the very heart of our mission, which is to gather together large numbers of people around acts of creativity,\u201d Director Joseph Thompson said in a prepared statement. \u201cWe are also aware of the role that MASS MoCA\u2019s operations and programs play within the local and regional economy, and we will do everything within our power to re-launch at the soonest possible instant, following guidance from public health officials.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mass MoCA\u2019s \u201cdrastic staff reduction\u201d (as Thompson describes it) echoes planning happening at museums across the country. Boston\u2019s Museum of Fine Arts does not expect to be able to reopen before July<\/a> due to the ongoing spread of the coronavirus and is considering layoffs and other \u201csignificant cost containment measures,\u201d according to statements from the institution yesterday. New York\u2019s \u201cMetropolitan Museum of Art is projecting a total shortfall of close to $100 million for the near future and expects to be closed until July, according to a letter the museum sent to its department heads,\u201d The New York Times reported<\/a> on March 18.<\/p>\n

Mass MoCA cancelled or postponed all performances as of March 7 and closed museum galleries to the public on March 15.\u00a0The museum says the closure has had a \u201cparticularly harsh effect\u201d since 70 percent of its annual budget comes from museum admission sales, concert tickets, concessions and other earned revenue sources.<\/p>\n

“What we do know is that our entire line of earned revenue (which comprises about 70% of our budget)\u00a0has been effectively wiped out, almost overnight,”\u00a0Thompson said in an email to the public yesterday.<\/p>\n

All employees \u201cwill receive their regular paychecks through March 27, whether they have been able to work or not. Moving forward, all employees\u2014including both hourly and part-time staff\u2014will receive at least 70% of their regular pay through April 10,\u201d Mass MoCA says. Then the layoffs begin.<\/p>\n

\"Liz<\/a>
Liz Glynn’s “The Archaeology of Another Possible Future” at Mass MoCA, 2018. (Photo: Steven Probert)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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If this is the kind of coverage of arts, cultures and activisms you appreciate, please support Wonderland by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, weekly newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Full Statement from Mass MoCA, March 25, 2020:<\/strong><\/p>\n

MASS MoCA ANNOUNCES CUTBACKS IN RESPONSE TO COVID-19 DISRUPTIONS<\/p>\n

NORTH ADAMS, MASSACHUSETTS \u2014 MASS MoCA announced today that in response to business interruptions caused by COVID-19 and related government mandates, it will lay off 120 of its 165 employees, effective April 11. The workforce reduction affected every department, including management.<\/p>\n

All employees \u2014 including hourly and part-time staff \u2014 will receive their regular paychecks through March 27, whether they have been able to work or not. Moving forward, all employees \u2014 including both hourly and part-time staff \u2014 will receive at least 70% of their regular pay through April 10. Those employees who will be laid off, and who participated in the organization\u2019s healthcare plan, will continue to be fully covered through July 31, with the medical insurance premiums covered 100% by MASS MoCA.<\/p>\n

After April 10, a small corps of security, buildings and grounds, and custodial staff will remain on full-time payroll, maintaining and securing the site. Commercial tenant operations on the MASS MoCA campus will also continue as permitted (including the U.S. Social Security Administration office, the Northern Berkshire District Court, and certain essential medical and legal offices). Several food and beverage businesses continue to offer take-out service.<\/p>\n

MASS MoCA\u2019s remaining employees will take voluntary reductions in work hours, or reductions in salaries of 18%-28% on a tiered schedule based on salary amounts (with the highest reductions applied to the highest salary tier). These remaining employees will be responsible for fund-raising, facilities management, and contingency planning for the organization\u2019s re-launch.<\/p>\n

Recognizing the unusual severity of the situation, and to fund the extended health-care benefits, campus security and maintenance costs, as well as salaries for the remaining staff, MASS MoCA\u2019s Board of Trustees this week approved a special emergency draw from the board-restricted endowment.<\/p>\n

Director Joseph Thompson said, \u201cThe COVID-19 contagion strikes at the very heart of our mission, which is to gather together large numbers of people around acts of creativity. So the pain is compounded. We are also aware of the role that MASS MoCA\u2019s operations and programs play within the local and regional economy, and we will do everything within our power to re-launch at the soonest possible instant, following guidance from public health officials.\u201d (1)<\/p>\n

Thompson continues, \u201cI am saddened by this drastic staff reduction, which will affect many of my colleagues and friends, and I join our Trustees and remaining staff in doing everything within my power to get as many as possible back to work rebuilding this great institution as soon as possible. Together with MASS MoCA\u2019s Board of Trustees, let me express appreciation for this dedicated staff\u2019s steady work under difficult conditions over the past month. I thank those who will continue working \u2014 in constrained circumstances \u2014 to rebuild this wonderful place so that we may all gather to enjoy art, music, dance, film, and theatre as soon as is possible. James Turrell reminds us: there is light out there. These difficult actions will help ensure we\u2019re around to find it.\u201d<\/p>\n

MASS MoCA cancelled or postponed all performances as of March 7, and closed its museum galleries to the public as of March 15. Because half of MASS MoCA\u2019s annual programming is in the form of concerts and other performing arts events \u2014 and because 70% of the organization\u2019s annual budget comes from earned revenue sources such as museum gate, concert tickets, and concessions \u2014 the COVID-19 closure has a particularly harsh effect on its operating budget. At the same time, MASS MoCA\u2019s endowment provides just 7.5% of its annual budget (with less than 2% of its budget coming from government grants, and 28% from private and foundation philanthropy).<\/p>\n

MASS MoCA will continue to post updates, and provide brief moments of art, music, and other forms of creative expression, on its web site (massmoca.org), via email, to its members, and through social media.<\/p>\n

(1) The most recent economic impact study by the Center for Creative Community Development, originally funded by The Ford Foundation and Williams College, calculated the total annual economic impact arising from MASS MoCA\u2019s operations and visitor spending at $52 million (yearly), approximately twice the economic impact first projected for the institution during its initial planning phase.<\/p>\n

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If this is the kind of coverage of arts, cultures and activisms you appreciate, please support Wonderland by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, weekly newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Mass MoCA in North Adams announced yesterday \u201cthat in response to business interruptions caused by COVID-19 and related government mandates, it will lay off 120 of its 165 employees, effective April 11. The workforce reduction affected every department, including management.\u201d (Read the full statement at the bottom of this article.) \u201cThe COVID-19 contagion strikes at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15691,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100],"tags":[706,715,716],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15684"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15684"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15701,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15684\/revisions\/15701"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}